Everybody's Friend! After another sleepless night partly due to the extreme heat and partly due to my mind racing all night; I was up early to prepare a nice breakfast for Perpetua. First I made a passionfruit, banana and pineapple creamy juice and banana and granola pancakes with a side of baked Cinamon apples. I am starting to realize I should maybe work as a chef as I really enjoy creating new recipes and I get such a good feeling when people enjoy my food. Once again Perpetua was blown away by my cooking and so appreciative of the breakfast - letting me show my appreciation of her hospitality. I have many things to do today so together Perpetua and I worked out a plan for the afternoon which included gong to meet Valaria in the afternoon at her house for something to drink and eat and then going to Isabelle's house in the evening to have dinner with her and her friends. I caught a lift with Perpetua to her work so that I could look at getting some passport photos printed for my Suriname visa but in the end I decided it was not a good idea as I was unsure of sizing. Yesterday I had seen a hairdresser advertising men's haircuts for $4.50 - super cheap for Brazil; so I walked into the city and treated myself to a haircut for the first time in years. The place was busy and the level of service was unbelievable - I directed what I wanted done and the guy come up with something even better and I left feeling that the $4.50 price was more then justified. In the afternoon I took the time to organise some of my couchsurfing stuff along with relaxing in the mid-afternoon heat. Perpetua returned md-afternoon and we made our way straight to Valarias house - which was only 5-10 minutes away by car. Valeria and her husband Sergio greeted us in their beautiful apartment, showed us around and then asked us to join them for a very special afternoon dinner. We talked mostly in Portuguese as Perpetua could translate and we shared many stories about family, travels and life. Valeria had gone to huge efforts to put on an amazing afternoon dinner and had gone and got special products such as lactose free milk, gluten free cocoa, soy milk powder and other bits and pieces so that I could try everything. We had a very delicious milk juice and a guava juice; followed by a very Brazilian couscous (with a little butter and salt), next were the tapioca pancakes (unfortunately I can't eat these) and finally a delicious chocolate brownie with couscous. The hospitality and kindness shown by Valeria, Sergio and Perpetua really symbolizes what I expected from Brazilian culture and to finally see it and experience it in Fortaleza has made my whole trip to Brazil worthwhile. It was soon 8pm and we had to go as I was off to Isabella's house to have dinner; we thanked Valaria and Sergio and then made our way to Isabella's apartment. Isabella always with a big smile greeted me and told me the plan for the night which was to make a simple dinner for ourselfs and a few friends that will be coming around. We went and collected Isabelle's friend Kenya and her two guests; who were two lovely American girls here for 6 weeks on a program learning Portuguese. Both the American girls were very young but incredibly well travelled and the conversation flowed with ease. Isabella put some pizzas in the oven and I made a bit of a salad whilst downstairs Isabella's grandmother made us couscous and some homemade avocado ice cream. I was lucky enough to go and meet Isabella's Grandparents briefly before we headed back upstairs for dinner. The food was taken out to the side of the pool and a bottle of red wine was cracked and we ate an amazing dinner. The American girls spoke Portuguese very well and I felt quite embarrassed that my level was so low I barely new 10 words. Kenya's partner came around at about 11pm and he was also an incredibly interesting guy and shared with us a lot of info and tips about Brazil, the culture and music. It was 12:30am before we all agreed it was time to call it a night and kindly Philipe gave me a lift back to Perpetuas. Perpetua was still up when I arrived so we talked some more and next thing I new it was 2am and now well and truly time for bed.

OBSERVATIONS:
- $4.50 haircut - best one yet
- Valarias House
- Bella's house for gathering with American girls
- couscous in Brazil - best I have ever tried